Our focus species
Click on an animal below to find out which species CIBBRiNA focuses on.
We are using cross-border and cross-sectoral collaboration involving stakeholders from 13 European countries to establish mitigation, monitoring, and assessment programmes in a selected group of fisheries with a risk of bycatch.
Within a proactively fostered working environment characterised by mutual trust, safety, and cooperation, the consortium will build on a review of current approaches and learning from the case study fisheries to deliver an innovative toolbox designed to be integrated into policy and best practice in European fisheries management.
CIBBRiNA is funded by the EU’s LIFE programme and runs from 2023 to 2029.
Click on an animal below to find out which species CIBBRiNA focuses on.
“Bycatch” refers to the incidental capture or entanglement during fishing of any animal which is not the target of the fishing activity.
CIBBRiNA focuses on the bycatch of Endangered, Threatened and Protected (ETP) species – you can find out which ones exactly by clicking on the animal icons above.
An ETP species is one that has been recognised as vulnerable and is therefore protected under national legislation and international listings.
Fisheries stakeholders sometimes use “bycatch” to mean the incidental capture of fish species other than ETP elasmobranch species. While bycatch of these fishes is also important to address, this type of bycatch is not in scope of our work, except where it is also relevant for mitigating ETP species bycatch.
While bycatch can be a rare event for individual fishers, globally, bycatch in commercial fisheries is a critical threat to seabirds, marine mammals, turtles, sharks, skates, and rays designated as ETP species.
Many of these species share characteristics such as taking a long time to reach maturity and producing only a small number of offspring. This means that it can take a long time for their populations to replace losses from bycatch.
For example, angelsharks may only give birth to a litter of pups every three years, while Balearic shearwaters lay just one egg per breeding season – with both species now critically endangered.
Many ETP species also range across large areas of sea, which increases their chances of encountering multiple fishing fleets with different fishing methods.
Loss of these animals through bycatch affects entire marine ecosystems. Among their many important roles, these animals help to move nutrients, create habitats, and keep other species in check.
The health of fish stocks depends on marine ecosystems. So it’s crucial that we recognise the vulnerability of ETP seabirds, marine mammals, turtles, sharks, skates, and rays – and that we work together to minimise (and where possible eliminate) their bycatch in commercial fisheries.
Bycatch of seabirds, marine mammals, turtles, sharks, skates, and rays affects people too, especially fishers.
Having to remove an animal caught in fishing gear can be both upsetting and physically risky for a fisher – and can lead to losses in revenue if their catch or gear is damaged or lost in the process.
Fishers can also worry about how the public perceives them, and how regulators and policy-makers may choose to respond when reports of bycatch emerge.
Ultimately, where evidence indicates that bycatch is severely impacting an ETP species and no other mitigation measures are available, affected fisheries may be at risk of restrictions or closure. This can have devastating effects on fisher livelihoods and coastal communities.
Bycatch of seabirds, marine mammals, turtles, sharks, skates, and rays can also impact ecosystems and their ability to provide many vital “services” to people – including healthy fish stocks and supporting human wellbeing through leisure and cultural heritage.
We recognise that bycatch is a deeply sensitive subject, and that stakeholders who are involved in work to mitigate bycatch can feel exposed to risks to their reputations and their livelihoods.
Because of this, we intend to achieve our objectives through what we call a ‘Safe Working Environment’: a collaborative space which is proactively fostered by all CIBBRiNA partners and characterised by mutual trust, respect, and understanding of different perspectives.
In doing so, all partners and other stakeholders involved in CIBBRiNA will feel fully able to share information and knowledge and to work together to achieve lasting change for bycatch mitigation in Europe.
The [IWC Scientific Committee] commends the breadth and scope of the project and is looking forward to further updates on the bycatch assessment and mitigation toolkits, which will be of value in a world context.
- International Whaling Commission (IWC) Scientific Committee
CIBBRiNA provides us with the opportunity to cooperate on bycatch mitigation in a fair manner with other stakeholders, in a relationship built on trust.
- Niels Hintzen, Chief Science Officer at the Pelagic Freezer Trawler Association (PFA)
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